Doesn't Erode The Memory
by Dazzling
Summary: Mac has moved to Australia after a hard break up. What could happen? M/M, H/M.


Author: Dazzling  
Email: glitter_and_glam@hotmail.com  
Disclaimers: Don't own em, never have, and unless something **really** unlikely happens, never will. I own Laura though.  
Notes: Set in my world, where Mick hasn't existed 'till now and Harm and Mac used to date but broke up. And I didn't know Mac's b'day, so I made it up. Ahhh, the wonders and power of fanfic.   
Summary: Mac has moved to Australia after a hard break up. What could happen? M/M, H/M.  
Distribution: If my names on it and you ask me nicely, go for it.  
Reviews/Feedback: Please? It would be very much appreciated.  
  
DOESN'T ERODE THE MEMORY  
  
1130 Monday 13th January  
Sydney, Australia  
  
Colonel Sarah Mackenzie lifted her face to the sun and smiled. Three months after her transfer from JAG headquarters in Virginia, America to sunny Sydney, Australia, she was feeling better than ever. Or would be, if not for the familiar face that haunted her dreams every night.  
  
'Get over it, Mackenzie,' she told herself sternly. 'You broke up three months ago. He will have moved on by now. So can you.'  
  
She knew she could. She didn't know if she wanted to.  
  
Sighing, Mac turned and looked at the sun lounge next to her. In it rested her best friend these days, Lieutenant Laura Seriser. Shaking the last thoughts of him from her mind for the time been, Mac removed her sunnies and smiled at her friend.  
  
"Time for lunch?"  
  
1245 Same Day  
A café somewhere in Sydney  
  
"Mac. Mac? SARAH!!!"  
  
Laura's voice jolted Mac out of her daydream, and she looked up from her salad into her friend's accusing face.  
  
"What/" Mac asked innocently.  
  
"You haven't heard a word I've been saying for the past ten minutes," Laura said, and sighed with a knowing smile playing on her face. "You've got Harm face again."  
  
"Lieutenant..." Mac said warningly, although her tone was light and teasing.   
  
Laura stabbed at a piece of chicken with her fork triumphantly. "I knew it! I knew it. Whatever happened between the two of you, anyways? All you've told me is that you were together for six months."  
  
She took a gulp of water. "And broke up," Laura added in her lilting accent.   
  
Mac exhaled slowly. "Lar, we've been through this. Harm and I worked together for too long before getting together. We were too different."  
  
Laura's gaze bored into Mac. 'But what really happened? As your friend, I am entitled to know, so that I can offer you my support by saying 'What a bastard' at regular intervals throughout your long, sad story."   
  
Mac grinned dryly. "I'm not going to get out of this, am I?"  
  
"Nope! So spill."  
  
"Ok. Harm told me he loved me one night, after we'd just won a big case. He blurted it out, just like that. He'd been drinking, and I dismissed it. However, back at work the next day, he assured me that he'd been totally sober when he confessed. It was like a dream come true. We started going out, and I couldn't have been happier. I mean, I'd been wanting that exact thing for five years. But in the sixth month, we lost the biggest case we'd ever been assigned. Our client received the death penalty. It was hard on both of us, professionally and personally, and it got stressful." Her voice took on a slightly bitter tone. "We drifted apart. Too far apart. After that, I got a transfer here."  
  
Laura looked down, and swirled her ice cubes around in her glass. Finally, she looked back up at Mac.   
  
"You still love him, don't you." It was a statement, not a question.   
  
"I always will, with all my heart, but it can't work."  
  
Mac glanced at her watch, and was startled at the time.  
  
"I'm late! I'll see you back at the apartment later, ok?"  
  
2019 Monday evening  
A bar in the city  
  
Mac sat at the bar, looking around for Laura, or any other familiar face. She jumped when a hand touched her shoulder.  
  
"Hi, I'm Mick Brumby," the man said, offering his hand.  
  
"Sarah Mackenzie," Mac replied, looking him up and down. Brown hair cut short, nice brown eyes, solid build and - maybe a little too close to home - a uniform. All in all, not bad.  
  
"Would you like to dance then, Sarah Mackenzie?"  
  
Mac smiled and accepted his hand as he led her to the dance floor. Maybe this was how she could finally move on.  
  
1930 Tuesday 15th May  
Mac & Laura's apartment  
  
'Four months,' Mac mused as Mick pulled to a stop in front of her apartment building. 'We've been together for four months.'  
  
"Want me to walk you to the door?" Mick asked her.  
  
Mac smiled at him. "And they say chivalry's dead."  
  
They walked up the path, and Mac stopped at her mailbox, and pulled out the usual bills and flyers. One large package fell to the ground, and Mick stooped to pick it up.   
  
'Sarah, who do you know in Washington, USA?"  
  
Laura's car pulled up at that moment, and she hopped out and walked towards them.  
  
"Sarah?" Mick asked again.  
  
"Hmmmm?"  
  
"Who do you know in Washington?"  
  
'Oh My God,' she thought. 'Harm?!?'  
  
"Probably, ah, probably just some old friends," she stammered.  
  
"Your friends like to draw little pictures of airplanes on their envelopes?"  
  
Laura could see what her friend was thinking, and hastily jumped in to cover for her.  
  
"Well, y'know, she has friends in the Air Force. C'mon, Mac, it's late and we have work tomorrow. Goodnight, Mick!"  
  
With a wave, Laura pulled a stunned Mac into the building.   
  
2000 Tuesday night  
Mac & Laura's apartment  
  
As soon as they got in the door, Laura turned to Mac, who was as white as a ghost.  
  
"You think it's from him?"  
  
"Only one way to find out, I guess," Mac replied, wiping her eyes and sinking into the sofa.  
  
Laura stood up and closed the window, as it had just begun raining. The remainder of Mac's birthday cake sat on the coffee table as Laura walked by it, and sat down next to Mac, pushing the package towards her.  
  
'Go on," she said softly.  
  
Mac slowly opened the sealed top. Two smaller packages fell out, as well as an envelope that read, in Harm's writing, 'Open This First'. Mac did so.  
  
'My dearest Ninja Girl' it read.  
  
'You didn't really believe that I'd ever forget your birthday, did you? Thousands of miles doesn't erode the memory. I hope you're having a wonderful life in Australia, and I wish more than anything that I could be there with you. Now, onto your birthday presents. I want you to open the bigger one first.'  
  
She did. Unwrapping the paper, she found a picture of the two of them, taken in happier times. Mac was laughing, her head titled towards Harm, and he was smiling down at her. Mac felt tears come to her eyes.  
  
'Remember when it was taken?' the letter continued.  
  
Mac could. It had been a beautiful summer day, and they had been picnicking in a park near work.   
  
'Please don't cry, Marine. You know I can't stand to see you cry,' the letter went on. 'That present was meant to remind you of the good times, not the bad. I loved you then, as I still do now. Now, I want you to open the smaller package.'  
  
Her eyes tearing up, she did what he asked. It was a box, the kind that jewellery stores put rings and earrings into. Prying open the lid, she found a glistening pair of diamond earrings. The box was made so that there was meant to be a ring to match in there, but she couldn't find one. She glanced back down at the letter.   
  
'I know what you're thinking, Mac, but it's not over yet. Lastly, I want you to look out your front window.'  
  
Mac stood up, tears running down her cheeks, hardly daring to breathe. She looked. Out in the pouring rain was Harm, in his dress whites, down on one knee. His hands were raised, and she noticed that he held the ring from the box in them. Crying uncontrollably now, she read the last part of the letter.  
  
'Well, what do you say, Sarah? Another chance? In the seven months since I saw you last, you have not left my mind, day or night. I want to spend the rest of my life knowing that when I wake up, the woman I love more than anything else in this world will be there beside me. I want to help her raise her children, knowing with pure pride that they are mine also, and that they have the best mother in the world. I don't want to miss out on another second of her life, let alone another seven months. I love you, now and forever.  
Semper Fi,  
Your Flyboy'  
  
Mac looked out the window again. He was still there, his brown hair flopping in his face due to the rain, a hopeful look in his eyes.  
  
She gave the letter to an astonished Laura, and flew out the door and down the stairs, running full-pelt straight into Harm's arms.   
  
He brushed her now-wet hair from her forehead and face. "God, I've missed you, Ninja Girl."  
  
She kissed him, releasing all the thoughts, and dreams, and hopes of the past seven months.  
  
He pulled back and looked at her. "Will you?"  
  
Mac smiled at him, and kissed him again. "Let anybody try to stop me. God, I love you."  
  
Harm held her close and smiled his flyboy smile, twirling her around in the rain.   
  
A horrified Mick, who had come back, met a smiling Laura at the doorway to the building.   
  
"Who the hell is that?" he demanded.  
  
Laura smiled again at the couple, tears in her eyes.   
  
"The one who was always stopping Sarah from being completely happy with you."  
  
FIN  



End file.
